The timeline shows "f" instead of Seconds

[Dieaal]

I'm using Adobe After Effects 16.1.3 (Build 5).

I tried to change the settings in "Composition Settings", but nothing.

[Martin_Ritter · Accepted solution]

"f" referrs to frames, the film subdivision of a second. In your current settings, you have 25 frames per second.

Display of time depends of your zoom level. If you zoom out, you should only see the seconds.

Get used to it that

01:00f

= 1 second, 0 frames

= 1 second

That's how they display it.

*Martin

[Dieaal]

Thanks for the explanation.

How you can see in the photo, the timeline is totaly zoommed out, so i want to zoom out even more, because for me, there, the clips are too "big" to see.

Can i do it?

[Martin_Ritter]

You have to enlarge the composition in order to zoom out more.

Go to the composition settings (CTRL+K on Windows) and just set a new length. You can make the comp way longer than needed. There are methods of shorten it again or just export the necassary part.

As Rick said, spend a bit time learning such basics.

*Martin

[Rick Gerard]

• Your composition is 2 seconds and 23 frames long at 25 frames per second
• Your footage is all 59.94 fps and the frame size is 1920 X 1080 unless the Clip 1.mp4 in Layer 1 in the timeline is scaled to fit the composition
• Clip 1.mp4 is almost 4MB and it appears to be 1 second and 20 frames long
• You have a total of 37.4MB of footage in the comp - Clip 7.mp4 has no file size listed so I assume it is a corrupted file
• If 4MB lasts for 2 seconds and you have about 38MB of footage then you need a comp that is about 19 seconds long

If you want to change the composition settings go to the Composition/Composition Settings menu or press Ctrl/Cmnd + k.

To change the time display from Feet and frames converted to timecode then go to the File/Project Settings menu or use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Alt/Option + Ctrl/Cmnd + k keyboard shortcut and open Time Display panel and change the option to Timecode.

You should only be using 25 fps as the frame rate for the composition if you live in a PAL country that has 50Hz power. In all NTSC countries, with 60Hz power (US, Canada, Mexico, and most of the rest of the world) the comp frame rate should be 23.976 or 29.97 fps if you plan to watch your project on television or 24 or 30 fps if you only intend to watch your project on computers or mobile devices. 23.976 and 29.97 also works well on computers and mobile devices. You only want 59.94 or 60 fps if you want the folks that watch your project to be able to pause the video and interpret the motion between the frames more accurately or you want them to be able to run the footage in slow motion without seeing any blended frames.

Your comp settings don't match the frame rate of your footage and you don't know how to change the settings so I strongly suggest that you open the Learn workspace or go to the User Guide and spend a couple of hours figuring out how to set up a composition and add footage to your timeline. 

[mistfall]

I found this thread because I am learning AE using an online course. I appreciate that community members have the kindness to reply to beginner inquiries, but am taken aback by how almost everyone who replies feels the need to shame beginners for not having learned the answer to their question on their own. 

At least in my case, I am learning by following along with tutorials, and trying to make sure that my results match exactly what the instructor is doing. It is confusing when one believes one is following along exactly, yet something about the interface or results is not the same as that of the instructor.  I was able to set up a composition, and add footage, but  that does not help me realize why my timeline is showing units in frames when I'm set to timecode-- regardless of how much I zoom in or out of the timeline -- whereas my instructor's timeline for the same footage and same length of composition is showing units in seconds. 

[Anisha5E15]

I have the same problem. It could be a bug because I have tried multple suggested solutions such as changing the preferences, project settings, looking at composition settings as well. I am nearly concluding that the timeline issue of showing it in 'f' instead of 's' (seconds) is a bug. I have also seen a 5 year old reddit forum where someone has the exact same issue.

[JasonDD210]

I've noticed it too. My guess is that those who are rude and arrogant don't help out of kindness, but out of a need to boost their egos.

[Guest]

I can only conclude from what I have read in this forum that everybody is very helpful and patient.

If someone says something like "spend a bit time learning such basics" its only meant to help that person that she/he/... feels more secure when trying to learn AE. Its not mean to be arrogant.

I also came into several situations where my timeline does not look like the one in the video I was following.  Or there was no "f" but only a "s". Although by now I know the reasons, this got me frustrated and a little angry but I overcame it by searching patiently for the reason.

Besides trying to find the solution by using AE this forum is the best place to asks questions.

Kind regards,

Peter